102 | www. Char l es tonPhys i c i ans . com | www.Hea l thL i nksChar l es ton . com Primary angiitis of the central nervous system is a rare and possibly fatal inflammatory disease that affects a person’s brain and spinal cord. According to the National Institutes of Health, without “prompt recognition and therapy,” the disease, which affects fewer than 5,000 people in the United States, can be a killer. Pam Greenberg, who was diagnosed with the deadly disease in California but now makes her living as a hypnotherapist in the Charleston area, has no idea why PACNS chose her. She does know, however, that her cocker spaniel saved her life – and that it is still possible that the lesions that plagued her brain then mysteriously disappeared could someday return. Greenberg’s journey from her life as a healthy and active 51-year-old to becoming what she described as “a vegetable” and then returning to a mostly normal existence started on April 30, 2017. At the time, she was living in Simi Valley, California, and working on her hypnotherapy residency. She remembers texting her daughter Sydney at 3:04 p.m., then taking her dog, Hershey, outside. The next thing she recalled was the cocker spaniel growling, biting holes in her shirt and pushing her to stand up. Looking at her phone, she realized that she had been out for 27 minutes. She remembers little about her hospital stay, other than “the doctor had an ugly yellow purse.” After an MRI discovered six lesions on her brain, a neurosurgeon declared that Greenberg was suffering from lymphoma, but another doctor disagreed. A brain biopsy confirmed that PACNS was the culprit. The budding hypnotherapist was prescribed prednisone, as well as chemotherapy once a month for six months. Greenberg’s life was sliding downhill in a hurry. After a week in the hospital, she left in a wheelchair. She couldn’t walk and couldn’t even write, which “was so weird. I didn’t know what was happening to me.” Greenberg’s situation got much worse before it improved. The chemo was supposed to be helping her, but an issue unrelated to the lesions on her brain was adding to her angst. Her needle phobia was one more hurdle she needed to circumvent. “I was more afraid of the needle than the chemo,” she admitted. A Unique Case: A DEADLY DISEASE AND A DEVOTED DOG By Brian Sherman Pam Greenberg with her grandson, Benjamin Crowe. Hershey the cocker spaniel – the dog who saved Pam Greenberg’s life.
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